Office software for a Mac

Hi can anyone recommend an office package for a MAC that is on par with Microsoft Office

Yes I know Office is available for the Mac but a few of the programmes I need such as Publisher and Access don't come with the Mac version.

A bit reluctant to pay for Office when I will need to purchase other programmes to fill the void.

Yes, I also know the Mac has pages, numbers etc. But to be frank (in my opinion) they are poor versions of their MS equivalents.

Thanks
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  • Andy_L
    Andy_L Posts: 12,765
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    Hi can anyone recommend an office package for a MAC that is on par with Microsoft Office

    Yes I know Office is available for the Mac but a few of the programmes I need such as Publisher and Access don't come with the Mac version.

    A bit reluctant to pay for Office when I will need to purchase other programmes to fill the void.

    Yes, I also know the Mac has pages, numbers etc. But to be frank (in my opinion) they are poor versions of their MS equivalents.

    Thanks

    I suspect you're likely to think the same of all the other options.
    Libre Office
    Google Docs, sheets, draw etc

    When you say you need Access do you just need "a database package" or do you need to run existing Access databases?
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,868
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    Reviews state that Word does the bulk of what Publisher on PC does anyway, it seems to have fallen out of favour anyway recently and seems just to be making up the numbers in the Office package, can't remember the last time it had any major work/functionality added to it, probably 2010?

    With regards to Access, this might be worth a look:
    https://eggerapps.at/mdbviewer/docs/en/access-alternatives-on-mac-os.html

    The other alternative to all of these is Apache Openoffice which is free download, but last time I played with the Windows equivalent, the Database wasn't particularly intuitive if you're already used to Access.
  • knightstyle
    knightstyle Posts: 6,985
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    edited 24 May 2019 at 10:49AM
    I have used NeoOffice on my macs for years. You can use it as a simple word processor or a more sophisticated table, spreadsheet etc.
    It is very easy to add pics to a document.
    Just make sure you set the spellchecker to UK English though.

    Just to add it is easy to change the doc to .docX when sending to people who use word and other formats.
  • stragglebod
    stragglebod Posts: 1,324
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    Have you ever used Publisher? It's a miserable experience.

    As long as you don't need to flow a story split into multiple locations you're far better off using Word.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,868
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    Just to add it is easy to change the doc to .docX when sending to people who use word and other formats.

    Why do you need to go from doc to docx? Word can open .doc files and saves in docx unless you tell it otherwise.
  • stragglebod
    stragglebod Posts: 1,324
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    Because .doc files could contain malicious VBA macros, whereas .docx files can't contain macros at all.


    Nobody with any sense would open a .doc file from an unknown source.


    docx files are also generally smaller, and allow you to use document features introduce in 2007 and beyond.


    Really, there's hardly any situation where saving a Word document to doc is a good idea. Same for xls too.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,868
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    Because .doc files could contain malicious VBA macros, whereas .docx files can't contain macros at all.

    Yes they can.

    Save your files as RTF (Rich Text Format) files and that guarantees nothing can travel with them.
    Nobody with any sense would open a .doc file from an unknown source.

    Nobody with any sense would open ANYTHING from an unknown source. Not just Word files.
  • stragglebod
    stragglebod Posts: 1,324
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    Neil_Jones wrote: »
    Yes they can.
    No they can't. You'd need to save the document as a .dotm file. So it you see a .docx you know - no macros.
  • Neil_Jones
    Neil_Jones Posts: 8,868
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    No they can't. You'd need to save the document as a .dotm file. So it you see a .docx you know - no macros.

    With all due respect I don't think you know what you're talking about.

    Can I present yourself with this, one .doc file with an embedded macro:
    http://www3.safenet-inc.com/csrt/esafe-demo/HTTPMacro/HTTPMacro.html
    (macro attempts to generate a file on desktop, that's all it tries to do)

    And a .dotm file for your information is a Word Template with Macro capability (not necessarily present). Whereas as I wrote an Rich Text Format file cannot contain a macro and therefore is more secure.
  • stragglebod
    stragglebod Posts: 1,324
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    Neil_Jones wrote: »
    With all due respect I don't think you know what you're talking about.

    Can I present yourself with this, one .doc file with an embedded macro:
    http://www3.safenet-inc.com/csrt/esafe-demo/HTTPMacro/HTTPMacro.html
    (macro attempts to generate a file on desktop, that's all it tries to do)
    Exactly. doc files can contain macros, docx files can't. Like I said.
    Neil_Jones wrote: »
    And a .dotm file for your information is a Word Template with Macro capability (not necessarily present). Whereas as I wrote an Rich Text Format file cannot contain a macro and therefore is more secure.
    My bad, I meant to type docm.


    So, I make an error by one letter and it seems I don't know what I'm talking about. You make an error by one letter, so I guess you don't know what you're talking about either?
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